Mornin’ Politocadoes
With three months to go until the U.S. Presidential election, Republicans are struggling to define their foes. With the announcement of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Ex-President Trump has been trying to find anything that will stick with his new foes. Mayhaps he has been irritated by the loss of a more familiar punching bag in Joe Biden?
Indeed, while GOP strategists still believe there is a clear path to victory for Trump, it relies on one key tactic: stay on message. Trump needs to stay on message about their “dangerously liberal” economic and immigration policies. Tragically for Republicans, he’s still Trump.
Trump and Vance went on the attack in the most scattershot and virulent way. He has since reverted to his old ways of caustic attacks and nonsensical nicknames. First among these is the use of “Stolen Valor” against Tim Walz. Trump revived old claims by a pair of Army veterans that Walz abandoned his unit, after 24 years of service, just two months prior to deployment to Iraq in 2005. Vance accused him of “stolen valor” because Walz called for gun bans for assault weapons that he “carried in war”. Though Walz never served in a war zone, he is the highest ranking enlisted soldier to enter Congress and he suffered ear damage from artillery fire. Hm outright lies about a virtuous Democratic veteran? Why, that sounds just like what happened to John Kerry! One of the men behind Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Chris LaCivita, is a prominent Trump adviser.
Elsewhere, he’s returned to non-sensical nicknames. A silly tactic, but one that has seemed to work. Hell, he never even publicly called DeSantis “Meatball Ron” and it completely stuck. So, he and his accomplices have taken to calling Walz “Tampon Tim” because of his pro-trans stance and his efforts to put free menstrual products in bathrooms. He’s also taken to calling Kamala “Kamabla” on Truth Social, a nonsense word on the level of covfefe, which isn’t on it’s face racist but certainly *feels* racist, if you follow me.
For his part, Walz seems comfortable going low when Trump goes low. Walz has alluded to the internet’s favorite meme at the moment that Vance is a couchfucker. He’s also the one who branded Trump and Republicans as “weird”, which has definitely ruffled feathers. Harris, however, seems to intentionally putting some distance, quieting down chants of “Lock Him Up!” for example. If that’s the case, then Walz is slotting into the Veep candidate attack dog role quite well.
Welcome to Thursday! Please be excellent to each other in the comments. The Mayor McSquirrel Rule remains in effect. Something to keep in mind! Police are using digital data to prosecute abortion seekers, and Facebook and Google are helping them! Even if they are not legally required to do so, the tech giants will aid them in this since it’s technically against the law. Please be careful when looking for abortion providers or helping someone who is looking for that assistance.
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